


Scarlet is the Color of Evil, and Love

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band), 极限挑战 | Go Fighting! (TV)
Genre: And their lackies, Crack, M/M, Superhero/Villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 03:57:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8313127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: Life’s tough—or for Yixing, is that just another word for fun?—when your boss is a superhero and your lover is a villain.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written originally for [Showxing & Tell](http://showxingandtell.livejournal.com/).

“Yixing. Yixing.”  
  
Zhixiang kicks at the man beneath the covers, repeats his name some more, then kicks him again when all he gets is a few mumbled, garbled sounds of waking.  
  
“Whaaat?” drawls a sleepy voice. A few pillow-creased hairs from the top of Yixing’s head peek out from beneath the sheets.  
  
“Time to get up. Come on. Move it. Chop chop. The day is bright.”  
  
Zhixiang knows, however, from experience, that none of this is going to help. His lover sleeps like the dead, and he moves only marginally faster when he’s awake. The watch on Zhixiang’s wrist shows it’s already four in the afternoon, plenty of time to wake up, have a cup of evening coffee, plan his outfit for the night, complain that his red suit jacket is wrinkled to some lackey henchman because “how is the Scarlet Shade supposed to make an evil appearance at the gala tonight looking like he slept half the day?!” even if that’s true.  
  
With Yixing still in bed though, Zhixiang only hisses this fault to his evil sidekick Minseok, instead of shouting at full volume. He supposes that undermines his authority but then, Minseok never does seem to care what he says anyway.  
  
Minseok, and the suit of the Scarlet Shade, exit the room immediately. Two minutes later a mug of lukewarm coffee appears on his bedside table, half it sloshed over the side of the cup. There will be coffee rings on the wood table, but that isn’t important right now. Yixing has still not moved a muscle in Zhixiang’s bed and that’s a problem requiring threats of another level.  
  
“Yixing, wake up. Your boss has promised to out me this evening. Please get your ass on home and tell him if he’d be so nice as to not murder me this evening, we’d both be grateful.”  
  
Zhixiang yawns.  
  
Yixing sits right up in bed.  
  
“What? Lu Han’s going to be there tonight?? Wait, what’s the date?” He wipes the sleep out of his eyes with one hand and brushes his bangs up off his forehead with the other.  
  
“The 20th,” says Zhixiang, sinking down into his evil red armchair to savor whatever warmth there is left from his coffee.  
  
Yixing looks like he’s about to curse. He stays silent for a minute longer, mouth moving inaudibly recapping whatever work plans he’s no doubt forgotten. Zhixiang keeps him _so_ nicely distracted some days.  
  
With bitter caffeine upon his tongue, Zhixiang smiles, rather pleased with himself. Yes, tonight is the evening of the 20th and the Scarlet Shade has personally promised to crash the Royal City Gala and possibly kidnap a princess—just for ransom of course. That is, if his nemesis doesn’t foil all his plans like _he’s_ also promised.  
  
“Yixing?” Zhixiang pries.  
  
Yixing’s lips are swollen and pink, either from biting his lips too much earlier in the day when Zhixiang thrusted just right, or from Zhixiang’s pre- and post-coital kisses. Both are a definite possibility.  
  
“I’m awake. I’m awake,” he repeats duly. “Uhmmm. 20th. Tonight. Gala. Lu Han promised he’d kick your ass or… wait a sec, what did he say exactly, I can’t remember now…”  
  
“I believe the exact phrase was, he’d throw a bus at my face.”  
  
“Right! That’s the one. Okay, I should go…. Yeah, I should go… Now, where are my clothes again?”  
  
And for the next five minutes Zhixiang is treated to Yixing wandering around the room bare-assed collecting all the articles of clothing he’d tossed away hours ago. “See you tonight, love,” says Zhixiang, kissing Yixing’s cheek before he finally leaves. “And remember, try not to smash me up too much okay? It’s just a kidnapping, no one _really_ needs to die.”  
  
Sometimes, it’s hard, fucking a man who works for your enemy, that super goodie two shoes self-proclaimed superhero Lu Han, the Mental Man. Or what was he calling himself these days? Psychic Furor? The Good Mover?  
  
Lu Han never could settle down with a good superhero name. Zhixiang makes a mental note to ask Minseok later what the current favorite pseudonym is. After all, Minseok may be Zhixiang’s lazy, good for nothing henchman, but since he’s also sharing Lu Han’s bed, well… who says a man can’t have assets in all kinds of places. No one ever said this super villain/superhero showdown has to preclude romantic entanglements. It’s a free world out there after all.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Yixing’s eyes are starting to grow fuzzy from staring at the computer. He holds an ice pack to the crest of his head where someone accidentally hit him last night with a dinner plate. Or maybe they flung it accidentally, who knows. The whole gala was a kind of chaos Yixing’s totally used to, but being chipped in the head by a dinner plate is still a first.  
  
“No, no, this looks too cheap,” he murmurs to the visual engineering guy Lu Han hires just to edit his heroic videos. “Can’t you add a bit of smoke to this side of the room? Make that table look like it’s hovering?”  
  
The man nods and goes back to his work. Yixing adjusts his ice pack and looks over at where Lu Han is lounging in an oversized orange armchair playing with his phone. It’s eight in the morning and it can definitely be said, they did good work last night. Lu Han foiled Zhixiang’s princess kidnapping as planned. Somewhere, there’s a seven-year-old girl in a pink dress being hugged by her maids while her parents clutch their chests in dramatic concern. Elsewhere, there’s a sixteen-year-old duke, a third cousin from somewhere down the line of royals—nobody really knows how far removed—sitting in a dungeon praying his family still has a lick of money they haven’t already spent in the City casinos.  
  
Forcing the Scarlet Shade to kidnap a duke over a princess? Not a bad night for Lu Han, the Flying Hoof, all things considered.  
  
“How’s it going?” Yixing asks his boss, yawning. An hour more oversight of this video editing and then maybe he can crawl on home, call up Zhixiang for a little phone sex, then sleep the rest of the day. Superheros, and their sidekicks, mainly only work at night. Good thing his lover is in the same line of business—kind of.  
  
“How’s what?” Lu Han is slow to respond. His eyes never leave his phone, which he’s practically glaring at.  
  
“Nothing specific,” says Yixing.  
  
He waits. Two minutes later, he’s right there to catch Lu Han’s phone when it goes flying across the room.  
  
“He hates me!” Lu Han shrieks.  
  
Again, Yixing doesn’t bother to ask him directly. For one, he already knows whom Lu Han is referring to. And secondly, Lu Han will tell him himself in 3, 2…  
  
“Minseok didn’t even text to see if I was alright!”  
  
Yixing chuckles. “Pretty sure Minseok is the one who kept your bus maneuver from actually working.”  
  
The world, meaning the Royal City, is convinced Lu Han is a telekinetic superhero. Only a few factions, including Minseok of course, know that all Lu Han’s power comes from wire artistry and heavy duty machinery planned in advance at the scene. And some interpretational CGI added to the video footage sent subsequently to media stations across the map.  
  
Lu Han scoffs. “Another two seconds, and it really would be on its side. Damn that man. I’m never seeing him again.”  
  
Except Yixing is pretty sure that while yes, Minseok and his crew did indeed keep a small part of Lu Han’s tactics from working, the henchman was there at least in the end to blow a kiss across the scene on his way out. Yixing only knows this of course, because he and Zhixiang had been right around the corner, sirens blaring in the distance, smooching for a good thirty seconds before they had to separate. Zhixiang may not be the most evil super villain around, but he did inherit quite a few skills for how to use the darkness well. Came with the name actually, the Scarlet Shade, a hand-me-down from three generations of villainy. The evil red suit as well, though of course Zhixiang made full adjustments for the latest fashion when he came to inherit the role. Yixing wonders sometimes, if he didn’t fall in love with him for just that reason. Tall and broad-shouldered, Zhixiang fills the suit so handsomely, so posh. Complete with red bowtie and dark red leather shoes, and just a hint of a raised pattern on the red trousers, black hair tossed artfully across his head, a couple of earrings in each ear…. What a picture. It makes Yixing shudder happily just imagining it.  
  
Nah, who is Yixing kidding. He fell in love with the Scarlet Shade because, villainy aside, Zhixiang is the most impeccable fool of a gentleman. They met two years ago at an evening cafe, Yixing sipping on a delectable cup of tea, Zhixiang drinking the same. It was a scheme devised by Lu Han to infiltrate their organization, but Yixing never was any good at undercover work. Or covert flirting. Fifteen minutes attempting to make salacious eye contact with the super villain proved just how futile it was.  
  
“You work for Lu on the Moon, don’t you?” smirked the Shade as he slid into a small round booth beside Yixing.  
  
“I… don’t!” Yixing had protested. Then, a few seconds later. “Okay, so I do.”  
  
“Really? So my guess was correct. Too bad. We could have had an interesting night.”  
  
Yixing had gulped. He choked on his tea. The Scarlet Shade sat beside him patiently, thumping his back and holding a napkin to his chin, eyes sparkling but surprisingly gentle.  
  
“Yeah… too bad,” said Yixing when he finally regained his voice.  
  
“My name is Zhixiang. Third generation Shade, but who actually cares about all that. We still could, you know, have an interesting night. What do you say?”  
  
Turns out, the Scarlet Shade was actually kind of bored with his position, and not nearly as bad as his publishers made him out to be. His murder count was largely an exaggeration, and he raised bunnies in the back of his mansion, saved kittens when nobody was looking. Yixing found that endearing. Lu Han found that sadly not as helpful as he would have liked, and set up his own process of seduction infiltration. You might say, both operations were successful, but neither actually stopped the public front on the war between good and evil.  
  
And so, two years later, here they still are.  
  
Yixing rolls Lu Han’s cell phone around in his palm and brings it back to him dutifully. “Careful, Han. You break it and Minseok won’t be able to text you at all.”  
  
“Minseok, Minseok,” Lu Han grumbles spitefully. “You know what they call him, don’t you? You know he wants Zhixiang’s job, right? You know he’ll probably murder Zhixiang in his sleep someday, right?”  
  
Yixing avoids the first question (always a dangerous answer when Lu Han’s around), skips the second (because that’s obvious) and jumps right into the third. “Not if you can persuade him not to, he won’t,” he sing-songs as he goes about his tasks. Lu Han’s superhero cape developed a long rip along the right lower seem last night. The inside is also starting to pill. Yixing has to make big decisions about whether he should send it to the tailor or get rid of it completely. Surely there’s some orphan child somewhere in the city who could use the cheap neon orange cape as a blanket this winter, reveling in the hand-me-down from the Royal City’s best known superhero to date. Yixing caught a few onlookers last night holding up their official merchandise superhero plaques brandishing Lu Han’s gorgeous face. It’s about time to arrange another photoshoot so they can sell a newer version. They could definitely use the money. A life fighting crime doesn’t actually pay too well, all things considered, and Yixing still has bills to pay. There’s his apartment rent, utilities, water, and clothing. Zhixiang buys him food more often than not, but Yixing refuses to use the Shade’s dirty money for anything more than stuffing his face. Hey, he’s gotta eat somehow. And occasionally accept a new pair of shoes, red, Converse. The only splice of evil coloring he allows himself to wear because Zhixiang does so love to see him dance across the city nightlife in spiffy red shoes.  
  
“I’m headed out, Han,” Yixing shouts across the room, already thinking about sweet, sweet sleep.  
  
“Yeah, thanks, whatever, bye,” Lu Han calls in return. They do have a good working relationship. They do, really. Hopefully by the next time Yixing sees him though, Minseok will have finally called or texted, and then Lu Han will be back to his normal, cheery superhero self.  
  
Yixing can only hope. In the meantime… he taps on his phone several times on his way out the door.  
  
“Hey, Zhixiang, wanna meet up for brunch?”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The news program a week later is the same old stuff. Yixing keeps one ear open just in case it’s important. His eyes, however, are closed. He’s naked laying back on Zhixiang’s bed, and his cock is kind of busy at the moment, stuffing itself into Zhixiang’s mouth. The super villain, whose captive was released yesterday for half a million gold, doesn’t even bother to restrain Yixing’s hips as he arches into that warm, wet, pliant mouth.  
  
 _We interrupt this morning broadcast for Breaking News from the newly recovered duke. The teenager, third cousin… a few times removed from the royal family is indeed back home as of Tuesday night. Unfortunately, our own Royal City’s superhero, Han the Air Modifier, was unable to rescue the teenager before ransom money exchanged hands—_  
  
Yeah, and that had pissed off Lu Han something fierce.  
  
 _“But the duke did return, totally unharmed as promised, and bringing back tales of the super villain who captured him. We turn now to Reporter Kris Wu, reporting in live from the duke’s family residence. Kris?  
  
“Hi, Junmyeon. Good morning to you, and to our viewers. But yes. After verifying that Duke Zitao came home with not a single scratch on his body, nor even a hair out of place—quite mystifying already, if I might say so—_  
  
Because Zhixiang had specifically bought the young duke some new fashion designer suits and a personal groomer, with the money gained from the ransom of course.  
  
 _“We have heard some interesting stories of his captivity.”_  
  
The footage switches then to a previously filmed interview with the duke, just as Zhixiang swallows Yixing all the way to his balls. Yixing hisses, moaning pleasurably as his hands slide along the fitted sheets, wrinkling the linen wherever he grabs.  
  
 _“He was actually really nice and polite,”_ says the young duke, his eyeliner still immaculate from yesterday’s makeover. _“If I hadn’t known this guy was a super villain who kills animals for sport, we might have been pals. And his minion was totally nice too! I didn’t get his real name, but they called him Mr. Stiff, I guess because he acts all cold and formal, but he brought me three meals a day plus snacks the whole time I was held prisoner, and he never poisoned me even once!”_  
  
Zhixiang pulls off Yixing’s cock just to smirk at this. Yixing grunts, offended. On the other hand, someone calling Minseok a minion is kind of laughable. The duke is lucky he’s no longer in their hands, or Minseok might actually fall through with his private threats of throttling the young man he’d called “spoiled beyond words.”  
  
Yixing groans some more to signal his own displeasure at being left unattended. Zhixiang, however, smirks up from between Yixing’s thighs, and proceeds to stroke him to completion with just his hand.  
  
“Well, Yixing, what’s your opinion? Am I not villainous enough? Should I have asked for more money? How long should I keep ‘Mr. Stiff’ in my employ before he succeeds in having me knocked off?” He’s smiling, but Yixing can only pant and chase his orgasm, in between trying to answer.  
  
“Uhhhh,” he gulps.  
  
“Well….”  
  
“I like you…”  
  
“Just the way…”  
  
  
He cries as he comes.  
  
“You are…”  
  
Zhixiang strokes him softly through completion, then wipes his hand on the sheet. Only Yixing is naked right now, Zhixiang promising that he can wait. People got jobs, you know. They don’t have all day to lay around, and that’s just yet another sad fact of life. Along with the fact that Minseok wants Zhixiang’s job. And, maybe his head.  
  
Zhixiang pulls himself up off the bed and walks around to the side, bending down to kiss Yixing sweetly right above the bridge of his nose.  
  
“Got evil meetings today, babe. What are you off to?”  
  
“I’m going to lay here and think about you for the rest the day, what else?” Yixing gives him a sheepish smile.  
  
“Nice try, but I know for a fact Lu Han is meeting with the city execs today to try to outmaneuver my next big scheme.”  
  
“What _is_ your next big scheme?”  
  
Zhixiang hums and smiles good-humoredly. “Nice try, Xing. I’ll be sure to ask you how you like it next week when it shows up on the news.”  
  
“Not going to give Duke Zitao another post-trial visit?”  
  
“Hell no,” Zhixiang laughs. “That boy was already way too much effort. Should have let me kidnap the princess like I originally wanted! Kids are easy. They laugh, play, and look cute. Play your cards right, they’ll even feed the bunnies for you, _and_ clean the cage!”  
  
“Retire from being a super villain and maybe we can adopt some,” Yixing says easily. He sits upright and pulls the sheets up over his thighs. Zhixiang sends him a curious smirk from across the room, then a wink.  
  
“Love ya, babe. See you tonight.”  
  
He leaves Yixing to see himself out of the evil Shade complex, passing a number of actual Shade minions. Most nod curtly to him, familiar with his face, and his business here. Nobody actually speaks to him, save for Minseok. Yixing sees him last, chuckling when he catches a glimpse of the man’s stony expression. Mr. Stiff, indeed. He has the tattoo of a snowflake inked below his right ear. His eyes are baby blue and steely, not a drop of warmth to be seen. The kidnapped duke had called him “cold and formal” and that part is entirely true. But Lu Han’s voice creeps into Yixing’s head unwittingly: _“Yeah, but you should see what else is stiff about him. Feel it… oh yeah.”_  
  
Yixing laughs and shakes his head of the image.  
  
“Something funny?” Minseok’s voice is like an icicle.  
  
“Nope. Nothing. See yah around.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A week later, The Scarlet Shade is making big news again. This time it’s a heist, delving right into the royals’ place of residence. The vault has been emptied of its many gems and jewels before anyone even knows about it. No guards are dead, just knocked out, but the queen is seen on a video later that day crying daintily into her handkerchief about ‘grandmama’s precious ruby tiara.’  
  
Yixing frowns at the tiara the next morning when he sees Zhixiang plop it unceremoniously on top of his head.  
  
“Matches your eyes, love,” says Zhixiang, messing with its placement and running his fingers through Yixing’s bangs.  
  
“My eyes are brown. Everything matches them.”  
  
“Hmm, but you know how much I like you in red.” Zhixiang’s voice is sultry, promising.  
  
“How about a trade?” Yixing suggests.  
  
“A trade?”  
  
“Yeah, this tiara, in exchange for sex.”  
  
“You want me to give up the queen’s favorite ruby tiara when I can already have sex with you anytime I want?” He’s playing with Yixing’s ears now. Yixing reaches up and captures one of his hands, dragging it down so he can kiss the inner part of Zhixiang’s palm.  
  
“Do this for me… and I’ll fuck you nice and slow, just how you like it.” With his lips parted, Yixing runs his tongue right down Zhixiang’s life line. The older man shivers and seems to capitulate. Yixing watches his expression in the mirror before them.  
  
“Fuck, Yixing, you’re so hot when you do that, say that. Whatever happened to that nice little innocent superhero sidekick I met drinking tea all those years ago?”  
  
“It was only two years ago, and for the record, you’re the one who ruined me.”  
  
“Yeah, I ruined you good,” Zhixiang agrees with a husky whisper.  
  
But when Yixing finally gathers his things an hour later, it’s the villain he leaves wrecked on his bed, thighs still quivering and skin marked with the signs of Yixing’s love, the ruby tiara tucked safely in a satchel under Yixing’s arm.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 _”Breaking news! Once again our superhero has saved the day. We are live here this evening with the Dominator himself. Lu Han, can you tell us how you were able to break into the Scarlet Shade and extract Her Majesty’s favorite heirloom from the jaws of evil villainy?”  
  
“I can, Junmyeon. It was a tough evening. An extremely tough evening.”_ On camera, Lu Han tosses his messed hair and wipes the sweat from his brow. _“If I could, I would have saved the entire fortune, but the fighting was immense. I was only able to retrieve the ruby tiara, and this here sapphire necklace, before I had to escape with my life. I owe sincere apologies to the royal family for not producing the rest of their stolen treasures, but I think we’ve set a starting example. The Scarlet Shade won’t try any more of this business, not while I’m around!”_  
  
The interview concludes with a blow-by-blow account of the assault from Lu Han’s lips and, most inconveniently, no bystanders to throw in their two cents. The clip is followed instead by several street interviews of people expressing their awe and respect for the beloved superhero. Only a very few people know that Yixing is the one who walked away with the tiara, stress free. Or that the sapphire necklace was an offering to Lu Han from Minseok himself. Or that Lu Han’s crinkled outfit, wild hair, and sweat came to him courtesy of a rather wild romp in bed before the TV reporters showed up on his doorstep half an hour too early.  
  
As for the rest of the jewels, well… Yixing doesn’t exactly know, but he did accept a small tiny ‘promise’ ring with minuscule studded rubies. It’s not like the royals will miss it. It was in the vault! And nobody ever wears jewelry deemed so valuable that it’s sent to the vault. “Such a waste,” Zhixiang had said, and Yixing has to agree.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“I’m planning to fake my death, Yixing, what do you think?”  
  
“What?”  
  
The question comes when Yixing least expects it. They’re sitting around a round bar table in a questionable part of town, surrounding by baddies, sharing a round of drinks with ‘friends’. Most of the guys here are minions, or the people who serve them. The only respectable presence in the entire vicinity is Yixing. And Lu Han, but he’s currently hiding away in a private room. Sadly, it just won’t do for a superhero to be seen in the company of his nemesis.  
  
“I said...” Zhixiang starts repeating.  
  
“I heard you,” Yixing cries. “I’m just… how, when? Why? You were serious about retiring, really?”  
  
Zhixiang smirks and takes another swig of his drink. “I was serious. _Am_ serious, really.”  
  
“But, but.”  
  
“But what? You worried about not getting to spend the same amount of time with me if I retire from the business? Yixing, babe, you know I’ll always have time for you. Even when I’m old and retired and have so much world traveling to do… I have a fund already set up with an alternate name. Not even Minseok will be able to tap into it, I’ve seen to that! Never trust a henchman, Yixing. Words to live by, mind you. _Never trust a henchman._ You raise them up, just for them to see you fall...”  
  
“We were talking about your possible retirement,” says Yixing, redirecting the conversation. He looks around the room anyway to see if anyone is listening. Apart from a few supposedly loyal cronies, all half drunk already, there’s nobody nearby. Minseok at least, Yixing knows, is occupied. That still doesn’t make this conversation not dangerous. He levels his eyes at his lover.  
  
“My grandfather was a henchman,” continues Zhixiang unfazed. “Leader of the Henchman’s Union from 1951 to—”  
  
“Zhixiang…”  
  
“Oh, right. Retirement. Yeah, what do you think?”  
  
“What do _I_ think?” asks Yixing, puzzled. To be honest, he’s always hoped that one day Zhixiang would give up the life of crime. Other than being a remote possibility though, this is something new to consider.  
  
He takes a long gulp of his drink. When he puts the mug down it’s to find Zhixiang’s eyes focused on him, only on him. There’s sincerity in them, the quiet sort that Yixing only gets to see after they’ve made love, _when_ they get the time to just lay around and be together. And Zhixiang retiring promises just that kind of life.  
  
“I’d love it,” says Yixing, taking the super villain’s hand under the table and wrapping it over his knee.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 _“Breaking News! The most unbelievable of breaking news anyone could ever expect!”_ shrieks Reporter Kim into the mic with barely a shred of cool. Behind him is a screen with Zhixiang’s face, not the usual immaculate one showing the Scarlet Shade at his most badass, but a grainy in-action photograph of Zhixiang just twenty minutes ago. _“The Scarlet Shade is reported… dead! According to witnesses, what seemed a minor scuffle half an hour ago at the King’s Plaza Square over a courier van, turned out to be the place of the Shade’s demise. We have on the scene an eyewitness who claims he saw it all! Mr. Oh?”_  
  
The video pans to a frail, skinny young man with excitement in his eyes. _“It was crazy! One minute the Scarlet Shade and all his minions were surrounding the van. The next minute… in came the Floating Antler flying across the plaza down from a rooftop! Or, maybe he was falling, I couldn’t actually tell, but it looked super cool! Anyways, he and the Scarlet Shade starting fighting, and I mean, it was like dropkick this, and pow-wow that! I’ve never seen superheroes fight so cool! At one point, he punched the Scarlet Shade in the chest and the guy practically flew into the side of the van, and the van must have skidded halfway across the square! Had to have hurt, I mean he made a dent and everything.”  
  
“That’s all very cool, Mr. Oh, but did you actually see the fatal blow? Can you describe it to us?”_ the reporter adds with barely contained anticipation.  
  
 _“Yeah, I did. But it was weird. Just when I thought the Antler was going to finish him off, there was another explosion. The van burst into blue freezing frames—you just can’t imagine!—and out came Mr. Stiff! He was the one who killed the Scarlet Shade, nearly killed the superhero too. It was amazing stuff…”_  
  
  
  
  
  
For the entire next week, media stations and newspapers would talk of nothing else: the end of the reign of the Scarlet Shade; the new evil power in town; whether or not the Royal City’s beloved superhero could reinvent himself once more after that embarrassing blow, and take on his new arch-nemesis.  
  
Yixing was unable to get a sane word out of Lu Han for days, the superhero blubbering about his once again foiled plans to make himself look cool. Despite the video editing department working on full steam to make the showdown look as dramatic as possible, it seems the only name on society’s lips this week, is _Mr. Stiff_.  
  
“You know he’s only called me once to apologize,” complains Lu Han at least once a day.  
  
“I know, I know. You’ve told me countless times,” says Yixing with a sigh.  
  
Lu Han sighs as well. “I just can’t get over this betrayal. It was cruel. Unmentionable.”  
  
Yixing straightens Lu Han’s bed sheets where the superhero has taken to laying daily, a stuffed animal under each arm to lessen his mental pain, his television set on the 24/hour soccer channel.  
  
“Never trust a henchman, Han, you should know this by now.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Lu Han’s countenance, however, takes up on the appearance of hope. “But Minseok isn’t a henchman anymore! He’s the new number one! The new super villain! My newest, greatest nemesis! Yixing, we’re finally in the same league! This has got to do wonders for our sex life, I just can’t wait.”  
  
“Do you think he’ll call you again soon?”  
  
And there goes Lu Han’s happiness, most of it anyway. “Yeah, maybe. He said he’s busy right now dealing with the purge and reorganizing all the Shade operations. He did promise a rather nice blowjob though as soon as he’s done, so… I guess I have that to look forward to…”  
  
With Lu Han now in a state of melancholy anticipation, Yixing decides to clock out. Discretely, he leaves his vacation submission form in the file box, not doubting it’ll be approved. Lu Han is nice when it comes to personal time off. After all, he takes it himself whenever he pleases and well, right now, contrary to expectations, Lu Han doesn’t need a babysitter. Yixing’s presence in the superhero mansion is decidedly not required for the near future.  
  
When his presence _is_ required elsewhere.  
  
  
  
  
  
Yixing doesn’t check his phone until after he’s gone home, packed his suitcase, and is waiting patiently at his gate in the terminal. Zhixiang won’t be making an appearance. Not a conventional one anyway. After all, a supposed-to-be-dead former super villain can’t just walk through airport security and board a plane like a normal person. Yixing sees from his messages though, that all is progressing nicely. With a few bribes here, a conveniently broken camera there, some borrowed security passes, the plan has been set.  
  
Yixing boards the plane on schedule, shoves his luggage in the overhead cupboard, and settles in happily. The seat beside him remains empty as passengers scramble to find their places and get their suitcases stowed. Yixing thumbs through a magazine first, then an in-air shopping catalogue. As the plane gears up and the stewardesses begin their safety routines, a man plops down on the seat beside his. Yixing purposefully doesn’t look up, but he can see in his periphery what the man has on. He’s wearing a grey pinstriped suit, sunglasses and a bowler hat. Black shoes, and… the only thing still in character, bright red socks. Zhixiang’s cologne also is the same. Yixing inhales his favorite, delicate manly scent and sighs.  
  
“Ready for the beach, love?” says Zhixiang.  
  
“Always.”


End file.
